El Exorcismo

A vicar and his wife and her child are sent to a failing parish, but the vicarage holds a ghastly secret.

Decent performances, the standout being the occultist, who has a certain look and intensity that suited the part - although I had trouble catching some of his lines. Otherwise, the sound design is good, with effective music, and the cinematography makes the most of an old location and does justice to the director's flair for mirror trickery and surreal images.

But the screenplay is an absolute mess. This is supposed to be a story of righting a historical wrong, of laying a ghost to rest - think Ringu for pure simplicity with clever story telling ... and then run a mile from this. It's burdened with a preposterous fascist subplot, but also has the cheek to open with a scene that is never integrated into the main plot yet is far more gruesome than anything that comes after, then intrigues with a tango scene - again, pointless - before stabbing away at some blaaah about illegitimate child bearing, before resolving on a completely under-powered encounter at the end. All sorts of themes are tossed in, with an unserious take on religion, resulting in a lack of drive or coherence. Because of this, nothing can really work, and the whole thing is drained of frights.

How do actors, and the director and cinematographer, find the will to go on with this kind of material? Beats me.

The Banishing (2021) is the latest film from Christopher Smith, director of such chillers as Creep (2005), Severance (2006) and Triangle (2009). This is a very drama focused horror film, and as such there is a bit of time investment required by the viewer before 'The Banishing' offers up some scares.

The Banishing is a restrained and rather muddled ghost story set in pre-WW2 Britain. Taking a more traditional approach to the haunted house tale, the film focuses more on characters and drama. There is great emphasis on the film's context, not just the parallels with the foreboding and inevitable conflict with fascism, but also the social isolation felt by the mother and her illegitimate child.

The bulk of "The Banishing" consists of Marianne (Jessica Brown Findlay; from Downton Abby) facing the demons that have emerged from the tarnished history of Borley. Jessica Brown Findlay is the saving grace of this moody ghost story her superior performance. She is a great actress and kept the film engaging.

On its technical merits, the film is quite satisfactory. It is well-shot, with creative framing in many scenes. The soundtrack is chilling and unnerving when it needs to be. The Banishing admittedly provides a genuine threat, though the ending itself was too similar to that which many past horror films have used as misdirection before unveiling their real ending. It is worth a watch for the period setting of the 1930's WWII Britain and the standout performance of Jessica Brown Findlay.

It sort of keeps your attention because you really want to find out what the end game of all of this is and it falls wayyy short. I don't wanna say I hated it but I didn't love it either. It's worth a once over. Jessica Brown Findlay of Downton Abbey fame does give a great performance though! I give it 5 out of 10 bags of potato chips.

What a tremendous disappointment! I just wanted to enjoy a creepy, atmospheric horror film but this one is so tedious I had to wrap up watching after 1 hour because I almost fell asleep. I know the director's earlier works and he always seemed talented, well, not anymore. If a horror movie is boring as hell, I think that's unforgivable. If I can give you an advice, just skip this garbage.

I was quite enjoying this, it definitely has it's moments. It was building towards a conclusion, but then...nothing. It's a film full of loose ends and half-baked ideas. Jessica Brown Findlay is good as Marianne, but her character needed to be written better, with at least some semblance of a person behaving realistically having experienced what they did. Why Sean Harris has the hair of Quentin Crisp is perhaps the greatest mystery here. A reasonably enjoyable journey but the destination is the middle of nowhere.